In a typical data network (for example, in a corporate data network setting) deploying Voice over IP (Internet Protocol) telephones (hereinafter referred to as VOIP phones), the VOIP phones generally are connected to a data network (for example, the corporate LAN) and other terminals such as personal computer terminals. A typical VOIP phone configuration procedure may include communicating with a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server service in the data network that operates to allocate the IP addresses for each VOIP phones on the network, and allows the advanced configuration of network settings (such as DNS servers, for example).
In this manner, the VOIP phone operating as a DHCP client may automatically receive the IP address from the DHCP server which is configured to assign the proper IP address for each DHCP client connected to the data network. Such configuration, however, requires that the user of the VOIP phone configure the phone on the data network with the information provided by the DHCP server using the user interface on the VOIP phone.
More specifically, at the initial VOIP phone configuration stage, the phone generally does not contain the necessary parameters to function as a phone. Furthermore, in the case where the VOIP phone is set up to operate in a non-DHCP layer 2 environment, the VOIP phone does not have an IP address assigned to it to communicate outside of its own subset. In this case, the VOIP phone configuration would require manual input of the information through an interface of the VOIP phone. However, while VOIP phones with user interface such as display units are generally available, these higher end units are expensive. There are less expensive VOIP phones that do not have a visual interface for the user. However, without a user interface such as a display, the configuration of the VOIP phone is a challenge.
VOIP phones with limited user interface capabilities in a non-DHCP environment would require manual configuration using a local user interface and a keypad to enter the parameters without any system feedback. Alternatively, each VOIP phone in the data network may be individually programmed using a command tool that would write the parameters to the phone memory also without any system support or feedback. These approaches, however, are prone to error, slow and tedious, inefficient and pose challenges in scalability.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have a method and a system which would allow voice assisted configuration of VOIP phones that do not have a visual user interface such as a display screen in a data network. Additionally, it would be desirable to have a method and a system which would allow configuration of multiple VOIP phones in an environment which does not include a DHCP server service that would assign the proper IP address to the VOIP phones in the data network.